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Construction accidents reports are flawed, a study revealed

A new study claims that reports used to date to record accidents and fatalities on construction sites are flawed.

Problems include a lack of basic information, such as the injured person's nationality and the machinery being used, the UAE University study said.
Last month, Build Safe UAE, a construction industry trade group promoting safety on site, compiled statistics to help contractors share information on what kind of injuries are occurring and how they might be prevented.

The report, which was formed last year, collected statistics from 18 major contractors.

Now, the Ministry of Labour's safety and inspections office plans to review how information like this is collected, reported Gulf-daily The National.

"The system the ministry is using right now is kind of general," said Noura al Kaabi, the lead researcher of the study.

"The safety department is covering all kinds of occupational hazards so it's not particular for construction. We designed a better, simplified computer database for the ministry that fits with the construction industry."

Details like where a labourer fell from and what kind of protection was in place at the time should be covered, according to Al Kaabi.

Health and safety managers of major developers also urged the ministry to improve how it records construction accidents.

Dave Bass, of Al Naboodah Contracting Company, said that builders were required to enter basic information such as the person's nam but added, "there are also some strange questions there."

"If you look to the labour law, there is a table that tells you one of the items you're supposed to have within the reports is how much the guy was earning," he said. "What on earth does that matter to an accident report?"

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